The Butterfly flaps it's wings
by sass41319
Summary: What happens when Caskett's daughter has an opportunity to correct the past's wrongs, will she be able to control the chain of events that she triggers. T rating but may change to M. Not really sure of the ratings yet.
1. Chapter 1

A/N I hope you enjoy my second story, I have several chapters already written so I should be able to upload weekly. Please hang in there as the angst does improve.

Disclaimer: Nope checked my mail today, no rights to Castle in the mailbox. Still belongs to AWM and ABC.

Chapter 1

ASHER

She sat curled up in the cramped hiding space, well into the third hour of her concealment, slowly shifting her weight from one foot to the other and trying to ease the searing pain in her calves. Hours spent playing laser tag did not prepare her enough for this moment. She had not felt her toes or fingers for the last 45 minutes and the cold was slowly working its way up her limbs, leaving a numbing emptiness in its path. She couldn't help imaging what would happen when it seeped from her limbs to the rest of her body. Would they find her here in the summer a thawed husk of herself like the Andean mummies or stow away on one of the Boeing aircraft, dropped from the skies.

_Maybe... Ok, ok stop now you sound like Dad. Trust the plan, this had to work. For Mom, for Dad, for us, because there was no going back. She had awoken him and it was time to end it. Forever, for always._

She reached down with her numb fingers to rub the tattoo on her inner wrist. _Always_, their special word that meant more than I love you, more than I will give my life for you and sometimes it felt like more than them. She felt the burn in her finger tips as she rubbed them back and forth over that one word. She remembered the day that she stopped believing in that word. The day that everything changed and their always ended. The day the dragon decided that they would never have their always. Now it had another meaning...vengeance. As she traced those words she could feel the warmth spread from her finger tips up her arms and as it spread she felt her heartbeat pick up, accepting this new warmth. With each beat the blood returned to her cramped limbs and she knew that this time she was ready. In her mind she screamed the words she longed to say out loud. _It's over, the world will know who you are and what you have done_. _The atrocities you have committed to rise to the top will be known and there is nowhere on this earth that you can hide_.

Slowly she sucked each cold breath into her lungs, in and out, watching the air steam up with each short exhalation. And with each breath she eased the tension in her muscles preparing herself for what was to come just like Javi had taught her in their training session. Secret sessions that Lanie and especially Alexis would have banned had they known, which is why they'd never told anyone about them. Javi knew the terrors that were out there and how important it was that they be prepared for whatever this devastating, hard life would fling at them.

She looked out from her hiding place across the large cavernous room to the boarded up windows, dust bunnies gently floating in the early morning light streaming through the cracks in the boards, then to the old mattress and debris of someone's life that lay in the corner of this squalid room. But never did her eyes fasten on the one spot that she should be looking at, the one spot where her family's lives had changed forever, the one spot on the concrete floor that still bore testimony to the lives that had been stolen. No she couldn't bring herself to look at the rust coloured stains that with time were being integrated into the myriad of other stains on the floor and remember their last moments. This is one time that she wished she was not her father's daughter, wished she wasn't able to imagine what those last moments might have felt like. She could feel the desperation, the grief, the sorrow and ultimately the horror spreading out from that stain with rust coloured fingers, like the bony hands of the angel of death. Threatening to wrap around her, surrounding and suffocating her in her cramped hiding space. No, today was about remembering the life that they led, the joy that they gave to everyone around them and the person who had taken that away.

Taking a slow steadying breath in, she lifted a hand, threading it through her dark brown hair, fingering the short ends of her new pixie cut, and closed her green chameleon eyes, mentally walking step by step through the plan yet again. He would come. She would not allow doubt to sway her. She had been preparing for this day for months ever since she had learnt the name of the faceless dragon that haunted her dreams. And in this moment she hoped that her parents would be proud of her. She thought that her mom would understand the drive, the need to see justice done, the need to end this now. Today. Today, her 16th birthday would be the end. No one else could understand what drove her like her mom would have. Not her older sister, not her uncles and aunts and not her siblings.

With her eyes closed she could she a younger version of herself, happy and carefree, sitting with her mother, she thinks it might have been at the beach house and she's sitting on the floor in front of the couch. Her mother's sitting behind her and is slowly drawing a brush through the waves of her long brown hair. She could feel the sunlight streaming through the windows, warming her toes in its glow. As she leant back against her mother's knees, the unique scents of cherries and vanilla swept around her, enveloping her like a warm hug. They were discussing some injustice that had occurred at school, she remembers trying to convey in words the tumult of emotions coursing through her at those perceived injustices. As the brush strokes slowed and she was lulled into a warm drowsy world, her words slowed and she heard her mother sigh. Her mother leant forward and wrapped her strong arms around the around her younger self.

_"Oh baby sometimes I think you are too much like me, too quick to yell and scream at the injustices of the world and too quick to absorb its pain."_ Her mother sighed again.

_"But Momma who will fight the bad people if we don't."_ _She turned to look up at her mother. _

She felt her draw her up onto the couch into her lap, she remembered feeling safe, secure and oh so loved within those strong arms, a feeling that she now knew she would never have again and that she would miss every day.

_"Baby girl, its mine and daddy's job to fight the bad people and your job to be our baby girl."_ Her mother pressed her lips into the girl's forehead. Breathing out a little sigh and then inhaling that sweet smell of her baby.

_"Awww but Momma, Daddy and I are gonna be superheroes when I grow up? "_The little girl giggles into her mother's neck.

_"And there's your daddy in you. Spoken like a true Castle, baby"_ With a laughing snort that only this extraordinary woman could pull off and still be graceful, she tugged the young girl in closer.

She remembered curling her little legs up, tucking into her mother's side and resting her head on her shoulders. Her daddy might give the biggest bestest bear hugs in the world but her mom knew how to rub her back in soft hypnotic little circles that made all the tensions and worries melt away. And as they lay in the warm summer sunlight they both fell asleep and that's how her father found them, these two extraordinary females in his life thankful on a daily basis for these amazing women that surrounded him.

Softly the sounds of footsteps reached her in her hiding place. Someone was approaching quietly like a snake slithering through grass or in this case a dragon through a lifetime of abandoned garbage. Without even needing to look at the watch on her wrist she knew he was on time and the plan was about to slide into motion. Thirty years of injustice, grief, pain and sacrifice was going to end today and her family would no longer have to hide in fear from this man.

The door squeaked on its rusted hinges as it was pushed inwards. Light from the hallway flooded into the dark room and brought with it the sounds of the New York streets. She could hear the sounds of horns blaring, car doors slamming and children laughing as New York woke up to face another cold winters day. As quickly as the light and sounds entered they were silenced by the door being closed. There was a split second of silence and then she heard shuffling as if someone was searching the room. She sucked in a deep breath and held it. The overhead fluorescent light flickered to life and she was momentarily blinded by its brightness. Slowly her eyes adjusted and she was able to make out the figure of the man standing in the centre of the abandoned room. Standing from her crouched position she felt the blood rush to her abused limbs flooding them with feeling at the same time as her heart started to race. Slowly she flexed each long toned limb, unfolding the tall stature that she had inherited from her mother. Drawing in a centring breath like her uncle had taught her, she captured her emotions and walled them inside her heart where they could not be touched and where they could not interfere with the job that she had to do today.

_It ends today, it ends today_...she stepped out of the shadows with the mantra singing through her heart and along her veins. No more, it ends today. Six months of sneaking out at night, missing classes to track down leads. Six months of dead ends and silence had finally paid off. Six months of piecing together the burnt papers of a jigsaw that she thought she would never solve. She not only had a name and a face for the man who killed her parents but she had a plan. A plan that would finally finish what her parents had started many years ago.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I promise that it gets less angsty soon. For those who do not like major character deaths...neither do I so keep reading please!

Disclaimer: Wish it was even remotely possible that I owned Castle but I'll leave it in the safe hands of AWM!

Chapter 2

"Bracken"

The single word echoed around the empty room, sounding louder than she had imagined when she planned this moment. The man startled and then slowly turned to face her as she took another step towards the dragon.

"I am Asher Beckett Castle, and you killed my parents." _Oh daddy would so love those words, so very Princess Bride_.

"I don't know who you think I am girl but I know nothing about your parents." The sunlight glinted off his cold blue eyes but failed to add any warmth to their glare. Even in the filtered light she was able to make out the small scar on his left cheek, almost faded now but clear to those who knew what they were looking for. A mark of the agreement he had made with her mother all those years ago, signed in his blood, an agreement that had stood for 12 years until he broke it by spilling her mother's blood, and her father's.

"08674221 Mr Bracken. Do you recognise that number? By now it is scrolling across every social media site in North America. In 30 seconds it will be across the world and 3 minutes after that the TV networks will have picked it up. By3 hours the President of the USA will know what it means and your plans to be the next presidential candidate..." her breath hitches as the rage threatens to break free of its walls in her heart, "... your future will be as dead as my parents". A solitary tear escapes, tracking down her cheek to cling to her jaw, stubbornly refusing to drop, held tenaciously in place by the will of a sixteen year old girl.

She imagines that she can see anger, disbelief flash across his face. He straightens as if realising that he has nowhere to hide. As he steps fully into the filtered sunlight from the boarded windows she can see that the years of lies and deceit have aged him. He is no longer the charismatic senator who had the world at this feet and who believed that the end justified the means. He shuffled forward like the old man that he now was.

"I am the girl whose parents bled to death in this very room, ALONE "a soft sob escapes "because you decided that YOUR life and YOUR lies were worth more than them. I am the girl who has brought your world to its knees and who will find justice for those who have been sacrificed so that you might live". She feels the hitch in her breathing, her rage is tearing at her walls, ready to pounce like a tiger if those walls start to crumble. He takes another step towards her, his confidence growing as he hears that hitch in her breathing.

"Do you think that the world will listen to the ramblings of a deranged teenager, over my words, the words of a respected governor who is going to be the next president of this country, a man who has helped countless lives? That will never happen, I will never allow that to happen." She didn't see his hand move behind his back, she never noticed the gun before it was securely in his hand, pointed at her.

"Now let me tell you some facts, little girl. I don't know what you think you have on me, what your parents thought that they had on me but that account number proves nothing. You have no proof that I accessed that account, no proof that I even knew that that account existed. Your mother believed this information was enough to protect her and she was mistaken as well." He takes a measured step closer, blocking the sunlight and crowding her, intimidating her.

"That is where you are mistaken, Mr Bracken, I have Thomas Vaughn." She sees him startle at the name, this time it is his breath that hitches, and for a fraction of a second he freezes as the implications of that name burst through his mind.

" Yes, Thomas Vaughn, your assistant at the time you were the ADA. Your assistant who set up that account in your name, who first told you about the three cops kidnapping mobsters for ransom, who was present the day that you met Raglan, McAllister and Montgomery to discuss terms. The same man that was also your assistant when you needed to hire someone to silence Johanna Beckett, who gave you Dick Coonan's name and who paid off Coonan after my grandmother was killed" Yes, she knew that she had his attention now and all she had to do was keep him talking until her back up arrived. She was her mother's daughter and her mom had taught her, no good cop goes anywhere without their backup. Hanging from a roof had taught her mother that lesson and she had tried to follow it ever since.

"There is no way you could have found Thomas Vaughn by yourself." The gun, she thought it was a Glock, starting to tremble. No, she realises it his hand that is now trembling and it is causing the gun to dance like a puppet on a rope. He understands that the game is ending and he will not be the victor this time.

"No I had help, Mr Smith didn't take too kindly to having to leave his old life behind when you tried to have him killed. Once I realised he had faked his death in that hospital it took me 6 months to track him down. He wasn't too pleased to see me at first but agreed to help as he felt he owed Montgomery and my parents. You see he had promised to keep my mother safe and hadn't. He felt that he had let them all down. Mr Smith kept another copy of the file, he was going to use it to help my parents, to keep them safe but he didn't realise that you would strike first. That file details those who were present the day you made a deal with Raglan, McAllister and Montgomery, including Thomas Vaughn's name. So, not only do we have the account number but we have a signed witness statement naming you as the person behind Johanna Beckett's murder, her colleagues', Raglan's, McAllister's, Montgomery's as well my parents deaths" She felt the phone vibrate in her back pocket signalling that the last piece of their plan had fallen into place. It was over, today this would end. Today her family would have justice.

"If you have all this evidence that you speak of, then why are you meeting me here in this building, alone? Where are the police to arrest me? I think you're bluffing, just like your mother did all those years ago and just like her I'm calling your bluff." The gun which had slowly been lowered to the floor was once again pointed directly at her, the barrel catching the filtered light from the windows.

" She also thought she could outplay me but when I found out that there was no file I knew that she was a liability that needed to be silenced. It's just unfortunate that that writer partner of hers knew too much as well." He took another step towards her and despite her best efforts she felt herself take a step backwards. As they danced this deadly waltz, neither heard the door open until a shadow fell over their impromptu dance floor. With a start she forced her eyes from the gun in Bracken's hand and felt her heart stop between beats before it restarted with a rush as she took in the presence of this new person. This person who should not be here, who should not know about this meeting.

"I believe that this meeting is over Bracken. It's over, today this all ends." She hears a loud retort followed quickly by another, the sounds echoing around the empty room. Her pupils widened as she watches Bracken fall to the ground, blood blooming like two spring roses on his white dress shirt. Her mind knows that she needs to move, this is not part of plan and it is time to implement plan B, or C make that Z, any plan but this one. Although her mind is quick to understand what is happening her body does not respond as quickly and she sees the gun in the dragon killer's hand turn towards her and she is powerless to do anything as her body betrays her, rigid in its shock.

"I'm sorry, AB"

She feels the bite and sting of the bullet, feels her previously rigid body being flung backwards and the cold, hard floor as her head hits it with a jar. The pain blossoms from a sting to a searing fire racing along her veins and encompassing her whole chest. Looking up she stares into the clear eyes of her killer and she knows this is the end for her. She feels her parent's justice slip from her fingers as her life slowly slips away and as the pain starts to numb and recede, as the darkness pulls at her, she lifts her hand and traces the words on her wrist, _Always, _seeking comfort from them. Turning her head she stares into the now lifeless eyes of Bracken and with this image implanted on her retinas she closes her eyes, accepting the black.

A/N please don't stop reading! Wanna meet Beckett next chapter?


	3. Chapter 3

A/N sorry I forgot its one more chapter before you get to meet Beckett again. Castle may also make an appearance. This is a short one. Enjoy

Disclaimer: Put my stocking up for Christmas, am hoping that Santa gives me the rights to Castle then. In the meantime it still belongs to AWM and ABC.

Chapter 3

She wasn't sure what woke her first, the sunlight streaming through the windows or the blast of the sirens through the still air. Her semiconscious mind couldn't comprehend whether they were ambulance or police sirens. Her next thought was hope that they were coming for her.

As she slowly surfaced from the black emptiness that had engulfed her, her senses slowly came alive. She could feel her toes flexing and stretching in her boots, the movement slowly snaking its way up her calves, curling and stretching her sore muscles, each muscle fibre coming alive. Slowly she became aware of one missing sensation, her chest was pain free. She brought a hand up in a quick snapping movement to glide it across her chest, waiting to feel the break in her skin, the warm ooze of blood from the chest wound, the burning flash of pain as skin met open flesh. But there was no defect in the smooth skin of her chest, no blood spreading out to coat her fingers.

Asher sat up with a jolt all her senses now fully alert.

_"Ok, ok keep it together"_ she whispered to herself, she could feel the panic starting to rise, her chest was tightening, her breaths coming in short pants. _"What is going on?"_ She felt the panic take hold as a quiet sob broke through her clenched teeth. Under her still fingers she felt her heart racing, threatening to jump out of her chest like a tiger from a cage, all the colours starting to melt together and swirl in front of her.

_"No, no you need to get it together_" she chanted to herself. _"What would Beckett do?", _the old mantra from her childhood serving to calm her jumping heart. _Ok just look around you, what is the evidence telling you? _Eyes known to change like the skin of a chameleon, sprang open, flashing green in the filtered morning sunlight. She was lying on the cold cement floor. Asher pulled herself up, tucking her legs underneath her and slowly stood. Turning in a slow circle she took in her surroundings. Gathering the evidence that her shocked mind needed to make sense of this new yet bizarrely familiar situation she had found herself in.

So she was still in the room. She swept her gaze over the familiar door she had entered not three hours before, well she thinks it was three hours ago. The same windows through which the sun slanted its rays, and the same four walls with their torn wallpaper, rotten boards and graffiti. Ok maybe _not_ the same graffti. Asher took a step closer to one of the walls, realising that she didn't recognise the tags on this wall. Turning to inspect the room more closely, she could see the sunlight filtering through the windows with their tattered blinds, the boards still in place. Garbage was piled up in the far corner of the room, bearing evidence of the slow decay of its surroundings. Finally her gaze came to rest on the floor, tracking along the deep cracks, knowing that they would lead her to the spot her troubled mind sought.

She gasped, almost a sob _"No, no" _sinking to her knees in disbelief, she realised that it was gone. There was no discontinuity between the older stains on the floor that bore witness to the history of this room, no copper rust stain that represented the comingled blood of her parents. Together in death as they always had been in life. Crawling on her knees she made her way across the floor, ignoring the sharp sting of forgotten debris biting into her soft skin.

Unable to comprehend her new reality she lay down over the spot where her parents held each other for the last time, curling into a tight ball and closed her eyes again, shutting out this disjointed world she found herself in. Her palm resting on the smooth floor, aching to feel the soothing soft hand of her mother, the broad calloused hands of her writer father.

Asher wasn't sure how much time slowly passed as her thoughts swirled around and around in her head, making her nauseous. She alternated from pressing her palm into the smooth, cold cement floor and into her soft warm chest. The startling contrast in textures not enough to centre her tumbling thoughts, the motion an attempt to ground herself and still the hurricane of her thoughts. Finally the scuttling of small feet penetrated her whirling thoughts, halting them.

_"Ok, pull it together Asher" _she shouted into the silent room, startling the rats and causing them to scatter in fright, _"You need to get out of here, find somewhere safe to regroup"_ , her thoughts coalescing into one single thought ,_"Find Alexis."_

She left the room, exiting out into the equally shabby corridor turning sharply to find the front door. As her hand closed over the dull brass knob of the front door, she had that single mantra, find Alexis, stuck on continuous replay in her mind. She could feel her panic settling, her heart rate slowing and the gasping of her breath easing. As she flung the door open wide her senses were bombarded with the sights and sounds of New York, the familiar early morning sounds of her home town helping to calm her ragged thoughts. Stepping out onto the sidewalk she felt herself being swept up in the foot traffic of the early morning commuters and eager tourists, providing the perfect hiding space if anyone was looking for her. Weaving and ducking through the traffic, she soaked in the steady familiarity of the city that she had been roaming since her birth. Her feet taking her in the direction that her heart was calling out for, until finally she halted, her feet seemingly welded to the sidewalk. Looking up she was startled to realise that she had arrived at her destination. Across the street, the grey coloured stone facade of the building marking it as a landmark of New York City. The years of grime coating its stone walls bearing witness to the many lives that had come and gone from this place, from the strong and proud badge carrying men and women to the lowlifes that they fought to remove from our streets. Her gaze slowly rising to trace the stone letters etched into the archway over the heavy wooden doors, THE 12TH PRECINCT.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Thank-you for hanging in there. Beckett and Castle are now ready to make an appearance.

Disclaimer: Castle and its characters are still in the safe hands of AWM and ABC. I'm just borrowing them

Chapter 4

Asher smoothed her trembling hand over her hair, tucking a wayward strand behind her ear, a gesture which her father would call her "mini Beckett" move, excitedly claiming that he and Beckett had created the first human clone. Although an annoying comment when she was 8, it was now a comment that she would have loved to hear him make.

Taking a steadying breath, she stepped off the sidewalk, narrowly missing stepping into the path of a yellow cab, no doubt containing some wide eyed tourist. Dodging the traffic she made it safely across the road and started up the worn steps and into the hallways of the 12th. She was assaulted with the familiar noises of her childhood, the smells of unwashed human flesh, burnt coffee and the deeply ingrained odours that spoke of a lifetime of human habitation. She could almost see in her periphery a vision of a 6 year old Asher chasing her brother, maybe Noah but most likely Bran, as he was the one most likely to cause her 6 year old self to want to strike out. She could picture them weaving through the blue encased legs of the officers, around their cuffed companions, ducking behind the watch sergeant's desk until the large hand of their father would catch up with them, or sometimes the gentle guiding arms of their mother or if they were lucky, the strong playful arms of their Uncle Javi and rarely, and to be avoided at all costs, they would be halted by the clear, decisive, not to be messed with, voice of the Captain. Current Asher pulled herself away from the mental pictures of a childhood forever gone now and walked towards the front counter. A tall lanky officer leant on the counter, his brown mud coloured hair sticking up in uneven spikes, clearly made by an impatient hand. This officer was unknown to Asher which meant she would not be allowed forward through the metal detectors with a quick wave of the hand and a "I'll just call up and let them know you're on your way". Asher stepped forward, knowing that this was her last hurdle before she would be able to find help and hopefully go home.

At the brisk "Watta you want" from the harassed sergeant, Asher rolled back her shoulders and using her "Beckett " voice she raised the volume to be heard over the din of the chaos around her.

"I'm here to see Detective..."Asher stopped midsentence, feeling an elbow connect with her back, shoving her forward against the wooden grain of the desk. "..Castle, I need to see her, tell her it's Asher" she exclaimed, completing her words on a rush of breath. The lanky sergeant picked up the phone on his right turning his back to Asher. In the continued chaos of the morning rush hour of the 12th, she could make out an occasional word as he spoke to someone on the phone. With an "Ok detective" he placed the phone down, turned to Asher and curtly informed her that the detective was on her way and she could have a seat, if she could find one, until the detective arrived.

Looking around her Asher quickly realised that all the seats were inhabited and found a spot on the wall to lean against until she was called. Asher closed her eyes, using the mental trick her mom had taught her and slowly closed out the outside world. She could feel her heart slowing with each deep breath exhaled from her lungs and with it the numbing anxiety that had been her constant companion since she woke this morning, well she thinks it was this morning. _Find alexis, find alexis, find alexis, find alexis, find alexis, find alexis, find al..._

Feeling a presence in front of her, she inhales the cherries and vanilla scent that starts to envelope her and looks up. Green eyes widening in alarm, her heart starts to race again. The thumping of each beat drowning out the voice shouting in her head as she looks at the face in front of her. Long wavy hair, darkly lined eyes gazing at her with curiosity and intelligence, smooth, flawless skin, and features so familiar to her and which she had not seen for some time. But in that moment she realised that the eyes so like hers staring back at her, the polite, professional smile, lacked any recognition.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett." As her mother took a step closer, Asher leant back against the wall, trying to put as much distance between them as she could. She felt the edge of a framed print bite into the soft skin between her shoulder blades, her mind unable to comprehend what she was seeing. "You wanted to speak with me?"

Kate watched as the girl's haunting eyes turned a hazel brown in colour then rolled up and shuttered closed as she slid down the wall, startling Kate so much that she was just able to catch her before she hit the floor. Kate grabbed the young girl and lowered her to the floor. Calling behind her to the desk sergeant "Hey Kervitz, call a paramedic"

She smoothed back the pixie locks from the girl's forehead, noting the slight sheen of sweat glistening there. Maybe she's sick? Leaning down and pressing her face to the girl's she felt her soft breath puff out and the knot of anxiety in her gut that she hadn't known was there started to slowly untwist. Ok she's breathing. Turning the girl onto her left side she felt an indomitable need to hold onto this young girl. She watched as her eye's fluttered open and she could see the moment that she remembered where she was. Tension came back into her slack muscles and she jerked away from Kate's touch, sitting up with her back against the wall. Kate now crouched in front of her, she had the feeling that if this girl could will herself to be somewhere else she would.

Sitting back on her heels, Kate pushed the sleeves up on her blue turtleneck and smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear in a move that would have Castle, if he had been here, questioning why she was so nervous. She didn't know why but this girl made her nervous, really nervous. She watched as the young girl closed her eyes, slowed her breathing and allowed the tension to ease from her rigid frame. It was a move that was strangely familiar and that tugged at her consciousness. But it also gave Kate time to observe the girl. She had short spiky brown hair around a slim, lean face that appeared to still be growing into its features. She had high cheek bones that would drive the boys crazy some day if they hadn't already and eyes that Kate knew could change colour with the light but that were currently firmly closed. Kate started to feel uneasy with the silence and if she had to admit it, a little creeped out at the girl's stillness.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett" she tried again.

"I'm Asher" the girl whispered, sneaking a look at Kate through thick lashes.

"Good, ok Asher, do you think you can stand?"

"Um, yeah sure." Kate started to reach out but at the startled look on the girl's face she thought better of it and let her hand drop uselessly down to her side as they both stood up. Turning, Kate realised that they had attracted quiet an audience. Never one to like being the centre of attention she found her lead detective voice the same one she used in the interrogation room or to coral Castle and the boys when needed.

"Ok guys, get back to work, we're all good here" Kate looked down at Asher and realised that she was almost as tall as her and if she hadn't been wearing her heels she could have been the same height. The girl was dressed in head to toe black, from her boots to her leather jacket. Her spiked pixie hair stood straight up in places and her hazel eyes were lined with black eyeliner. Almost like the blacker she could be, the easier it would be to disappear. The only hint of colour came from the glint of a gold chain peaking out just above the neckline of her shirt, black of course. Despite the Goth appearance of the girl, there was something about her that was tugging at the corners of Kate's mind, a familiarity that was causing Kate to feel just a little bit freaked out.

She heard him before she actually saw him but that was usually the way. He didn't know how to be quiet; her lover, her partner, her talkative grown-up man-child. She heard his exclamation "What's happening", then his excited "Beckett's here" and his "and she didn't call ME" ending on a squeaking note, she would know his voice anywhere even over the rising din of the room as most people wandered away to reclaim their chairs and their previous conversation, now that the excitement of the situation had died away. But it was his "Ok, ok make way cop carrying coffee coming through" that really caught her attention.

She turned to see him stumble past the last few spectators, hands raised above his head with a white and brown travel cup of coffee from their favourite cafe in each hand and a small white paper bag perched precariously on top of one cup, which she was hoping contained the bearclaw she had texted him to grab on his way in. But it was his clear blue eyes brimming with excitement that stopped the sharp retort from spilling forth at his last statement.

"You're not a cop Castle" She said softly when he reached her side. Crowding into her personal space as he always seemed to do. At the beginning it would irritate her, this invasion, this need to push up against the wall that kept most people out, but now she was just as likely to do it as him. Truth was they were so in sync these days that she missed him when he wasn't crowding her personal space.

"Yeah I am. I'm a Consultant Of the Police. C.O.P. spells 'Cop'", emphasising the "P" sound to make his point.

"I know what it spells Castle, but that doesn't make you a cop." She leant in slowly, careful to avoid the hot coffees to whisper in his ear. As she inhaled she felt the unique scent that was her fiancé wrap itself around her, surrounding her with scents of coffee, spices, cologne and pure Castle. Catching herself she pulled back slightly to prevent her lips from caressing the soft skin of his neck knowing that she would have to be satisfied not to taste, at least for now, but tonight was another matter.

"Firstly Castle it makes you a_ civilian_ consultant, not a cop and secondly, Captain Gates will never allow you to carry a gun or a badge." She heard his soft whine and the ready rebuttal on his lips "and that fake badge you made me buy you at that souvenir shop last week does NOT count."

She snatched the coffee and bearclaw from his still outstretched hand and without waiting to hear his reply she turned back to Asher. The girl was still rigidly hugging the foyer wall and watching them like a deer in headlights. She was rhythmically rubbing the inside of her left wrist, her finger making small movements as if tracing something. To tell the truth, Kate was a little freaked out by the almost frozen like stillness of the girl, the unexplained sense of familiarity and the inexplicable need to protect her that she seemed to evoke in Kate. A small wisp of dread ignited in her stomach and started to flare to life.

"Asher, how 'bout we go upstairs so we can hear your story? Kervitz, cancel the bus I don't think we need it." She gently guided the girl away from the wall, through the metal detectors and towards the elevators. It came on so suddenly without warning, catching her unprepared as it broadsided her. She felt her breathing start to speed up and her heart beat race as the wisp of dread flared into a frozen firestorm sending chills down her spine and into her limbs.

_Not here, please not here. _Kate tried to slow her breathing like Dr Burke had trained her to do but she could feel the walls of the dimly lit precinct corridor closing in and the steel doors of the elevator drawing further and further away as the panic started to set in. She couldn't say exactly what was freaking her out but she could sense that something big was beginning and it filled her with dread. _Slow your breathing, think of something else, go somewhere else. _Her breathing showed no signs of slowing. _Go to your favourite place._

She focused, mentally talking herself through the imagery. _Its morning and you're in bed with Castle at the loft. You're snuggled down under the quilt but something has pulled you from sleep. Turning you can see Castle outlined in the early morning sunshine that is splashing through the large glass windows of the loft. The thought races across your mind that you've forgotten to close the curtains again last night and you hope that the neighbours across the street didn't have a full view of your late night activities but then it vanishes as Castle makes a soft snore. He's lying flat on his back with no covers, which means during the night you've stolen them yet again, he's wearing that soft blue cotton shirt that brings out the blue in his eyes and his batman boxers. You place a hand softly on his chest searching for his heartbeat. You feel the slow steady lub dub of his pulsing heart and the subtle rise and fall of his chest under your fingertips, you try and match your breathing and pulse to his. Syncing and connecting with him even in sleep. _

Kate feels her heartbeat slow and her breathing ease as the images settle her. Never once faltering on her heels she spins around and catches sight of her partner still standing where she left him. He was staring into space and looked to be having some intense internal conversation. _He's probably trying to come up with a way to get Gates to give him a gun and a real badge. _

"You coming Castle"

A/N I know Kate's reaction is a littel OOC but I figure that some instinctual response would happen meeting Asher for the first time and Kate's not very good at processing her emotions so she may perceive this feeling as a threat.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I had a dream last night that I did in fact own Castle and it's characters but woke to the harsh reality that no, I still don't own it.

Chapter6

_Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmyfreakinggod! _Asher stepped away from the wall and silently followed her mother through the metal detectors, a simple "She's with me" in her Detective Beckett voice enough to get Asher waved through without any questions. She turned into the dimly lit corridor and walked the short distance to the grey steel elevator doors with the 12th Precinct etched across the front.

_Ohmygod, Ohmygod, Ohmygod! I must be dead. This must be heaven. Wait, wait this must be a joke cause in no- one's universe would heaven be the 1-2. So it's really real. Or maybe it's a dream, I'm lying in a coma somewhere and imagining I'm seeing my dead parents. _Asher traces the tattoo on her inner wrist and gently pinches the pale soft skin.

_Ouch, ok now that hurt so no dream. So these guys are really my parents and my Mom and Dad are really alive. Maybe I'm in an alternate universe? Ha, I've so watched too many Quantum Leap episodes with Dad. _

_Have I gone back in time, how? Why? What happened to Bracken? If I came back did he too? Can that happen, two Brackens in the same time? Stop! Stop! _She was snapped out of her internal dialogue by her mother's voice.

"You coming Castle?"

Those words were so familiar to her and weighted with so many memories. She could see her Mom standing at the loft door, struggling to get into her coat and hold her travel mug of coffee whilst calling to her Dad as they left for the precinct; at the Hamptons and her Mom was calling her Dad into the water from his safe perch under the sunshade; being on the jetty at her grandfather's cabin and her Mom expertly threading a wriggling worm onto a hook as Asher held the rod and watching her Dad retreat back down the jetty shouting over his shoulder "Ummm we need more drinks, definitely more drinks" at her Mom's "You coming Castle" but knowing he was really retreating from the wriggling worm.

She entered the elevator and turned on the spot, glancing up in time to watch her father sliding down the polished wooden floor of the precinct hallway and throw himself through the rapidly closing doors of the elevator.

"What's the rush Beckett?"

"Maybe I just like watching you move, writer boy."

"Man, Beckett I'm all..." His statement effectively cut short by a sound from Beckett followed quickly by _that _stare and a head tilt to indicate Asher's presence. "..good, Beckett, I'm all good."

Watching their banter, feeling like she was 10 again and this was another regular visit to her Mom's workplace, Asher's hand moved of its own accord to press the 4th floor button, her brain on autopilot completing an action she had performed so many times in the past. As her index finger made contact with the cold surface of the button she felt her father's large hand slide over the back of hers to reach it. She stilled, taking a deep breath to steady her at that first contact with her father in 6 years. Her father's warm comforting scent enveloped her just as his bear hugs used to when she was small. She took another deep breath in wanting to capture his scent realising that although many important things had been lost from her conscious mind since his death, she did remember this.

She was startled into the present day once again by his soft gasp. She felt him slowly turn her left wrist til her palm was facing upwards. His large calloused finger slowly traced the cursive writing on her wrist. From the large elaborate 'A' across to the small 's' with its curly tale. _Their word_. She was sure that he could feel the bounding pulse in her wrist, tapping out a rapid beat under his fingertips. He turned to look into her face, his now next to Asher's because they had both reached for the control panel at the same time. She watched as his clear blue eyes widened whilst they roamed her face, from her green/hazel irises with the gold flecks scattered through, to the straight sharp bridge of her nose, the square jaw which foretold a stubbornness of character but was currently trembling slightly, finally coming to rest on her high sweeping cheek bones. She imagined that she could almost see the wheels churning behind his clear intense gaze as his mind jumped from one unbelievable theory to another crazy hypothesis. Asher watched as his amazement turned to recognition then excitement. His breath hitched slightly and he started to bounce on the balls of his feet.

"Castle, let the kid push the button" Her mother leant forward, placing her chin on her father's shoulder and cupping the back of his neck with her hand. A move meant to restrain him but that was intimate in its intent rather than controlling. "You push enough of mine anyway."

The cherry vanilla scent of her mother now comingled with her father's and threatened to overwhelm her turbulent mind.

"No, No I'm all good." Asher retreated quickly to the rear of the elevator, stopping only when her spine made contact with the wooden panelling of the wall. This was the closest that she had been to her parents in 6 years and she didn't know what she was meant to feel. Each breath was catching in her chest and her heart felt like it could jump from her chest at any moment.

She watched as her mother reached around her father and pressed the button for the 4th floor, home of the homicide division of the 12th. As the elevator started to move upwards, Asher looked up to the ceiling and slowly started to count the small holes in the panelling in an attempt to control her tumultuous emotions.

_1, 2, 3, ohmygod, ohmyfreakinggod, 4, 5,6…_having replaced her earlier mantra about finding Alexis cause somehow she didn't think that this Alexis could help her, given she was probably only a few years older than her and was years away from getting her detective's badge. Nope the only Detective Castle here was her father with his souvenir NYPD badge.

There was an awkward silence during the short ride up to homicide. The air was palpable with unanswered questions that apparently her father wasn't willing to broach yet but Asher could feel them hanging between them. She took a quick peek through her lashes at her mother, who was giving him her querying 'what the heck' face that usually resulted in her talkative father spilling the beans but not today. He was casting sideway glances back but looking away before making eye contact. It was her father's tell that something was up.

Lost in her quiet observation of her supposed to be dead parents, the elevator ride was almost over before Asher noted the diamond ring on her mother's finger and its lack of a platinum wedding band accompanying it. The same ring that now hung around her neck on a chain with its constant companion, her father's wedding ring. The rings like her tattoo, symbolised the love that she had lost. No not lost that had been stolen from her and her siblings.

She felt her eyes start to water as tears threatened to fall. Looking back up to the ceiling she concentrated on the holes yet again to try and prevent the tears from spilling over. She needed to come up with a plan. Asher's first instinct was to rush into her parent's arms but she had known since that split second when she looked into her mother's eyes today that although they were Castle and Beckett they weren't really her parents and they wouldn't be for at least another year. The lack of a wedding ring on her mother's finger was testament to that fact. So although every cell in her body was telling her to move, reach out to them, her mind was restraining her, quietly murmuring to her to _hold back, think, what would Beckett do?. _With a self-depreciating laugh Asher looked back up to the ceiling panels and started counting holes again, anything to distract her from reaching out to the real Beckett standing two feet from her, to seek the answers she needed.

As the elevator came to a halt, Asher looked down in time to hear her mother exclaim "Your coffee Castle!" and see her father startle from his not so subtle staring to jump back from the cascading hot liquid that was making its way down his trouser leg. At that instant the elevator doors opened onto the 4th floor, and her father fell into the surprised arms of her uncle, Detective Javier Esposito.


End file.
